NBA has a problem

Dear David Stern,

You have a problem, a very big problem.

The stars in the NBA are now controlling the future of the NBA, not the owners or GM's. The Stars are telling teams not only that they want to go somewhere else, but they are also telling their owners where they want to be traded. And if you are a small market team, such as Denver, you almost have to comply with your star, because otherwise he will leave the team and leave you with nothing, like Cleveland.

Denver did what they had to do, they traded Carmelo to the Knicks because they knew they would lose him and they may as well get something rather than nothing.

The Jazz did the same thing today. They traded their franchise guy, Deron Williams, to the Nets for a few draft picks and two players. The Jazz knew he was going to leave after next season and GM Kevin O'Connor didn't want to go through an entire season of trade rumors, so he got rid of his star player only because he knew that Deron was going to leave.

So Mr. Commissioner, you have a problem. Your small market teams are dying. This needs to be fixed. It used to be that if your team sucked for a few years that you could turn it around with high draft picks and good management. That is how football works too. But now the stars control the league, so the small market teams that draft these guys get them for maybe 3 or 4 seasons before they want out and want to go to a big market team.

David Stern can fix this. The NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA, expires at the end of the season. The NBA can make some changes to ensure that the small market teams can survive, because at this rate it'll only be a matter of years before we see an NBA franchise have to relocate or maybe even close out all together. Owners don't want to spend money into a team that is only going to see a player stay for a few seasons.

Stern can simply look at the NFL. Small market teams, like the Packers, Saints and Colts, have had some staying power with their stars. Stern can add a franchise tag to the NBA, so teams can keep their players.

I don't have many answers for the NBA's problems, but we need to be clear on one thing, the NBA has a big problem. It may sound cool to have a few 'super teams' with lots of all stars, but in reality it is just killing the small guys and in the long run will do more harm than good to the NBA